


you live with ghosts

by Overdressedtokill (SkyeStan)



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, Love/Hate, Semi-Canon Compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-20
Updated: 2015-05-20
Packaged: 2018-03-31 06:39:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3968203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkyeStan/pseuds/Overdressedtokill
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>superhero Skye confronts supervillain Ward. Except maybe he’s not that much of a supervillain, and maybe nothing’s ever black and white.  And maybe Skye hates him.  And maybe she doesn’t at all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	you live with ghosts

Here is how Skye comes into Ward’s office.

She blasts the door wide open, off its hinges, and sends it flying over his head and into the wall behind him.

She does not find it utterly infuriating that he cooly ducks down as he files paperwork, sitting at his desk in a nice suit like he’s working some normal job.

She steps into his office, her hands shaking at her sides, and squares her shoulders like he taught her to at least three lifetimes ago.

“Hey asshole,” she says.“I found you.”

He looks up.There’s a picture on his desk, and Skye knows it’s not of her.Which bothers her a little.Not too much.

“I wasn’t hiding,” Ward says.“So all you’ve actually done is break my door.”

Here is how Skye could’ve come into Ward’s office:

Literally any other way but that one.

But the deed’s done, and she’s here.She’s here and he’s here and she crosses her arms because the tremors in her hands are driving her up a fucking wall.“Would you like a Hail Hydra, Ward?” she snaps.

A shrug.“Not particularly,” he says.“It’s not really my thing.”

“Your thing?” she asks.Takes a step forward.His shelves rattle.She rattles.The world shakes and it’s still not enough.“Your fucking thing?”

“I have said two sentences to you so far,” Ward says.“So whatever you’re upset about should probably be elaborated on.”

The nerve.The goddamn fucking nerve.Like she’d be pissed about anything else.And she can see it right there on his face!He knows why she’s pissed.He knows and he’s baiting her.He’s baiting her because this is amusing to him, somehow.

That feels wrong.Really wrong.But he’s not giving her one signal otherwise.

 

 

“Okay,” Skye says.“First of all, you’re a legit fucking supervillain.So I called that.And also, bonus points, you’re calling yourself _Taskmaster?”_

“Okay,” Ward replies, mocking her.“First of all, I’m not a supervillain, that’s not a thing.I’m handling business.”

“Oh my God,” Skye says, putting up her hands.“Thanks for that, Godfather.”

“And secondly,” Ward says.“How is Taskmaster worse than _Quake?”_

“Oh screw you!” Skye says.“Mine makes sense!”

“Yeah, I know,” Ward says.“Did you pull it out of a hat?”

He did not- He couldn’t- Who does he even think he is?“Holy fuck, I’m gonna kick your ass,” Skye says.

“Oh bring it, sweetheart,” Ward says.And he’s nothing like the Ward she used to know, and she’s fucking glad.

 

 

There’s a couple ways to do this, really.The smart part of her knows she can’t best Ward in a fight, even with superpowers.The stubborn part of her is really, really willing to try.

“This is pathetic, you know,” Skye says.She doesn’t send his desk flying out the window, like she thinks she should.Instead, she approaches him, and leans forward.

(You seem nervous, Agent Ward.)

She spreads her hands along the edge of his desk.“This act.”

“Right,” Ward says.Drags it out, for emphasis.He gestures at her.“And you’ve totally got your shit together.”

Skye can practically feel her nostrils flaring.Ward’s desk vibrates under her hands.“You know what-”

He slams his hands down on his desk, making her jump back in shock.“I do know,” Ward says.“Why are you here, Skye?Figured you’d try to rough me up before anyone else?Does anyone but you even know I’m here?”

She frowns.“Coulson does.”

“I’m shaking,” he says.Grins like a wolf.She’s never seen it before, him with all his teeth.Him with all his teeth, every one of them for her.“So let me take a guess as to why you’re here, Skye,” he says.And he’s stepping out from behind the desk, like he’s greeting a friend or something.“One.You want revenge for Bobbi.”

“Oh fuck you,” Skye says.“What, Ward?Is that an inconvenience for you? Just like it was so inconvenient to kidnap her and almost kill her and-”

“You know she sold Kara out to Hydra, right?”He says.Bridges his fingers together, like he’s thinking.“But you wouldn’t care about that.”

She lifts her chin.It’s more difficult when he’s standing.His height can make it hard for her to be imposing.

That, and this attitude he’s got going.

“Okay,” Ward says.“Second.You want to show off your powers some more.”

She gawks.“I do not-”Shakes her head.“Some more?!”

“Oh, you mean that little stunt in the arctic wasn’t just-” He waves his hands around.“You proving you’re not afraid of me, or whatever?”

“I don’t have to prove anything to you,” she snaps.“And if you’re done, what- Preening?”

“Monologuing,” Ward offers.“It’s the villainly thing to do.”

“You said you weren’t a supervillain,” Skye says.

“But you obviously think you’re a superhero,” Ward replies.“And I don’t want to hurt your feelings.”

 

 

She blasts him into the far bookshelf.And she has about 2 seconds to feel victorious for it.Because then he’s throwing something at her and it _sticks,_ and she’s convulsing with an electric shock and falling to the ground.

“Fun, right?” Ward says, getting up from the wreckage of his shelf.“I’ve got all kinds of cool shit.”

Skye gets her senses back, though not by much.Strains for the spot on her leg where whatever... gadget or something is stuck to her.

“You’re-” She gasps in pain.“Psychotic.”

“I’m not,” Ward says.“But thanks for playing.”For a moment, he winces.Cracks his back.There’s several broken shelves from where his body hit. He seems unfazed.And he’s only allowing himself this because she’s practically paralyzed.

“Then what are you trying to do?” Skye asks.Her fingers wrap around the device and pull.

It detaches from her leg with the minimal amount of her skin on it.It will probably scar.

“That’s not the best way to remove that,” Ward says.“Just for future reference.”

“Yeah, well,” Skye says, getting back onto her feet.She notes his footwork, the way he’s watching her arms.“Are we going to actually fight this out? Because I don’t remember you being able to hit me.”

He chuckles to himself.“Well,” he says.“Don’t see it as Skye fighting Ward.See it as Quake fighting Taskmaster.”

“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard,” Skye says.She watches him raise his fists.In response, she slides her feet into her stance.

Why does this feel like sparring?Like they’re friends or more than friends, and they’re training, and one of them doesn’t have to kill the other.

Is he going to try to kill her?

Not like she hadn’t put those bullets in his side.Not like that at all.

“Come on,” Ward says, grinning at her over his fists.“I’ll give you the first punch.”

 

 

She doesn’t use her powers.She should.And she can feel them rumbling through her, begging for her to split his floor wide open, or blast his wall out.

But she really just wants to sock him in the face.

So she goes for it.And he catches her swing.Twists her arm away, though not hard enough to hurt her.

Something in her throat feels tight.

“Try again,” he says.Lifts his fists.

“What are you doing?” she asks.“Is this a game to you?”

“It’ll be a game as long as you’re willing to play it,” he says.Which is an answer and a non-answer all at once, and she’s never hated him or herself more.It’s a thrilling feeling, really.

“Try again,” he repeats.

She goes for the stomach, this time.For the fakeout that anyone could see coming from a mile away.This time, he spins her around and pushes her away.

“You can do better than that,” he says.“Are you afraid of me, Skye?Is that it?”

“Not ever,” Skye says, through grit teeth.She turns back around and flings herself at him, knocking him back before he can fully register the motion.She grabs his wrist with one hand.Arcs her next punch towards him.

He catches it and throws her off.

“You fight like an angry pomeranian,” Ward says.He’s grinning.Almost laughing.“You know that, right?”

“You fucking-” She stops.She stops because this is getting her nowhere.None of this will ever get her anywhere.

 

 

She remembers her breathing.She remembers a lot of things.“What’s your endgame, Ward?”

He stares.“Excuse me?”

“This,” she says.“Hydra.”

“Closure,” he tells her.

She tilts her head.“What does that even mean?”

“A lot of things,” he replies.“But nothing you’d understand.”

“You said you weren’t loyal to Hydra,” she says.

“And you never believed me,” he says.“And let me tell you, it’s really a relief, being the person everyone thinks you are.”He has the audacity to give her a kind of once over.“But you’d know all about that, wouldn’t you?”

Now it’s her turn to ask, “Excuse me?”

She meets his eyes and regrets it.The flecks of gold speak of nothing good.“How were your parents, Skye?”

 

 

Every glass item in his office shatters in the next moment, and she’s never been quite so proud.

Even if he doesn’t flinch.Even if he stares at her as she shakes the building, as she threatens to bring it all down over their heads.

Would he even care if she killed him?Would he even care at all?

“That good?” he says, evenly. “Well.Then I guess we have that in common.”

“My mom is dead,” she says, as furiously as it’s been beating inside her head.“My mom lied to me and she’s dead!”

“Plenty of us have dead mothers,” Ward says.“Some of us think it’s a blessing.”He shrugs at her, and walks back to his desk.There’s glass everywhere, on the surface, on the floor, and he just-

He’s so uninterested.In her.In all of it.

The shaking gets worse.“If you hadn’t been so determined to get me to see my father-”

“Ah,” he says. “Right.I killed your mom.There we go.There it is.”

How dare he?How could he? “You’re fucking Hydra!” she yells.“Everything you said to me.In your cell.Did it just- Did you just lie?”

“No,” he says.“I will never lie to you.”

“Then why are you here?” she demands.“Why did you pick this?Why didn’t you- How could you do this to us?”

And he looks at her finally, finally, with such unveiled disgust and fury that it can only be counted as a victory.Getting him riled up. “You know what?” Ward says.“Do you remember my speech?The one I gave on the Bus.About tearing our little family apart?”

She swallows.“Yes.”

“Amend it,” Ward says.Takes a step towards her.“Amend it to say that the only thing I regret more than tearing us apart was not realizing how stupid the world is.How stupid the team was.Can you do that for me, Skye?Can you amend it so that I will go down as saying that you are nothing but a bunch of self-righteous hypocrites?That you’re too dumb to see anything but the tiny little box you’re in?”

“Me personally?” she asks.He’s towering over her.Looming.Furious and cruel and sure.“Or all of us?”

“I don’t care,” he says.He’s only a breath away from her.When did he get so close?“So long as you, personally, know that’s how I feel.”

 

 

She cracks her fist across his jaw, and the room goes still.

It doesn’t hurt like it did the last time.She’s better at throwing punches.

He grabs his jaw and staggers back.“Good hook,” he says.“May teach you that?”

No.He had.A while ago.“Yeah,” Skye says.“She did.”

“Good,” he repeats.“Good to know.”

He lunges.He’s fast and vicious and he grabs her by the shoulders and slams her back against the wall. 

“You said I’d get the first punch,” she says.Knees him in the stomach.He drops her.

She aims for his throat.He grabs her by the back of the head.“Didn’t say what would happen afterwards.”He pulls.

She tries to claw his eye out.Manages a gash right over his eyebrow.

He tries to knee her in the back.

She goes for his elbow.Cracks up, though not hard enough to break the joint.Whatever.It gets his hand out of her hair.  

She earns a the gut.So he gets her heel in his knee.He shoves her.She takes another jab and himHe grabs her wrist.Twists hard, this time, and wrings her arm behind her back.

She throws her head into his nose, but gets his chin instead.

That hurts.Like, a lot.

He slams her chest against the wall.Pins her with his weight.“You know,” he says.“You’re not bad.”

She couldn’t hate him any more than she does in this moment.

She also doesn’t know why he has to be so close to her.He’s trapped her leg between his, and if she just arched her back-

She’d be writhing against him.Like she is right now.

His breath is on her neck.He could kiss her, and they could take their clothes off and fall down to the floor and-

 

 

He presses her against the wall, and he’s hard against the small of her back.His lips find her pressure point, just under her jaw.And she’s moaning, it feels so perfect and his mouth feels so good, going along the column of her throat.

Isn’t this what she wanted?Isn’t this why she came?

She’d had to see.She’d had to see if he’d wanted her and he did and she needs him, so, so badly but-

They can’t.It doesn’t matter how he kisses.

She tried to kill him.He’s Hydra.He probably wishes she was dead.

“Stop,” she says.She doesn’t blast him off of her.Send him flying across the room.She just says it, and wishes she hadn’t.

But he does.Because he’s Grant Ward.And he’ll always listen to her.Even if he hates himself for it.

He steps back, leaving air where his body had been.“I thought you,” he says.And it’s almost as soft as he used to be.“I thought we could-”

She presses her hands up against the wall.“We can’t.”

“You’re right,” he says.And that hurts.“You’re absolutely right.”

She shuts her eyes.Just for a moment.“I hate you.”

“I hate you, too.”No pause.No sympathy.

“We’re never going to do this, are we?” she asks.

“No,” Ward says.“We aren’t.”

 

 

She lets herself turn around.Face him, and his cold gaze.Face the wreckage of his office.Face the fact that she can’t kill him, and probably never will.

“You want me to go, don’t you?” she says.

“I mean,” he replies.“This isn’t the climatic battle you were hoping for, I’m sure.Maybe if I get some power dampeners, we can have a real fight.”

She swallows.“You’d beat me in a second.”

He shrugs.“You are good,” he says.“If you wanted a job, a position here, I could-”

“No,” she says.Hopes she can at least be half as detached as he is.“Never.I will never work for you, or Hydra, or any of it.”

A small light in his eyes.Just a spark.“I know.”

“One of us has to die, eventually,” she says.

“I know.”

“Are you going to kill me?” she asks.

“No,” he says.“I won’t kill you.”

“But you wish I was dead,” she says.

He doesn’t say anything.

“You said you’d never lie,” she says.“You said-”

“Sometimes,” he says.And that’s that.

“I feel that way, too,” she says.“You should know that.”

“You should get out of here, Skye,” he says.“I’m going to call security.”

She snickers.It feels wrong.All of it.She has nothing left to do.“You have security?” she says.“You don’t need it.”

“Perk of the job,” he says.“Tell Coulson I’m coming for him, okay?”

She blinks.“What are you-”

“It’s your story, isn’t it?” he says.“And I’ll always be your villain.”

Something is wrong.This is wrong.All of it.From start to finish.“But Grant-”

“It’s Ward,” he says.“And you need to go.”

She feels like screaming.She feels like crying.

“I will never forgive you,” she says.

He doesn’t react.“I feel the same way.”

 

 

She sends him sprawling towards his desk.Just one small push of energy.Just enough to give her the room to run.

She shouldn’t have come.She shouldn’t have come.She shouldn’t have-

She knows she’s coming back.

And he probably does, too.

 

 


End file.
